


Episode 5 : "Broken legs"

by homoeroticsubtextinspace



Series: Karnaca [6]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Diplomacy, Fallen | Eliksni, Found Family, Gay, IN SPACE!, Multi, Space Exploration, Trauma, everyday life on the ship, lots of them - Freeform, space, they're all gay don't even ask
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:29:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29940351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/homoeroticsubtextinspace/pseuds/homoeroticsubtextinspace
Summary: the unexpected come knocking at their door one more time!this episode is more a setup for future things i think, but some important things are said and done anyway^^we get to see Myaree adapting to life onboard. sweet child is lost a bit.I suck at proofreading so if you see something that doesn't make sense do tell me!Notes are at the end
Series: Karnaca [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1909798





	Episode 5 : "Broken legs"

-first of all I want to thank you all for coming to this meeting !

-we can call up crew meetings now?  
Rosetta chuckled

-wait is it not the correct procedure? Artemis told me this was how it was supposed to be done !

They all turned toward the little ghost, who was trembling in her shell. Not from fear, she was cracking up so much her flight path had become erratic. 

-I'm afraid you can't trust any of the bullshit Artemis spurts on a daily basis Myaree.

Charles sounded exasperated, but in truth he was amused. Artemis was finally having someone new falling for her pranks.

-might as well tell us what this is about now that we're here!

-I'm so sorry I... , I apologise for my behaviour captain, it won't happen again!

-chill kiddo , most of us weren't busy anyway.

-hey!! Speak for yourself! 

Torres looked falsely offended, she threw a kiwi from the fruit basket toward Akai who managed to swiftly grab it mid air.

Myaree was mortified, she had called this meeting for a bunch of questions, while they were surely all super busy, she had believed the little ghost and acted accordingly, thinking this was the best way to get them all in one place.

-I'm ashamed now, my thing seems so unimportant ... I understand if you want to leave.

-Mya they are joking , as long as we're not in a combat situation we're all free, you can come up to us when you need.

Torres, Akai and Artemis stopped bickering for a second and nodded to show that the captain had spoken the truth.

-alright! Thank you captain! I want your input on these 6 designs, I'm not sure which one would be best.

Her sentence barely over she slid one of her black pucks on the table, projecting 6 images.  
-I've put a lot of thought into my sigil but i can't decide between these ones. I request your honest opinion on the matter.

-oh. You know the sigils are not really a formal thing, Rosetta started this because she likes symbols and Akai followed but in truth it was never an official thing or anything. 

-but they are engraved on your armors, on the doors to your quarters, on your weapons? I thought it was some sort of tradition.

-Finally someone with taste! -Applauded Rosetta- I'd be happy to brand your gear with one of these! I like this one, with the two circles, does it mean something special to you? 

-this one represents the twin sunrise on Besehno, not from a realistic point of view, more of a symbolic one, while the dots are typical of my people's traditional art. I wanted to bring a part of them with me on this journey.

-that's very sweet, I'm sure they'd be proud of you Myaree.

Deidra and her ghost, Blacksmith, took their time to scrutinise each proposition, asking details on each pattern.

-i think Rosetta's right, the 4th one here might be the best one. 

-I think that’s my favourite too! Thank you! Also I wanted to ask about training. 

-mmhh. -Said Deidra, raising a concerned eyebrow.

-I have noticed during the past week that guardians are very into weapons, whether it's designing or improving them like Rosetta , discussing them or just combat training, they seem to be an important part of your life.

Akai was gearing up to answer but a discreet gesture from Myaree showed her she wasn’t finished.

-And I’m not judging or anything, however I have noticed all of you try to actively avoid mentioning weapons or combat in my presence.  
So my question is "is it because I'm younger than all of you?"  
I'm not a child anymore and I know what responsibilities come with weapons. I've held hunting bows before you know.

-it has nothing to do with age Myaree, technically Rosetta and I are around seven years old. 

-she’s nine so shut the fuck up!

-Alright, I’m seven and she’s nine, thank you oh great disco ball of knowledge ! - Akai side eyed the little round ghost who was visibly feeling very good about her joke.-   
Personally I avoided the subject because I didn't want you to feel like you were in immediate danger. I know it’s useless but i felt it was my responsibility to do so.

While Akai had started talking, the captain was moving around uncomfortably in her chair. When she finally spoke she looked rather uneasy.

-I can't speak for the rest of the crew, but to me it's more that I wanted you to keep the , let's say innocence your people grew to enjoy. Our kind is born of conflict. Not just guardians, frames are supposed to be foot soldiers, Exos were designed as weapons of war. We are agents of war, all of us. But you’re not. You’re the best humanity has to offer . You're looking at the cosmos with eyes full of wonders and curiosity. I wanted you to keep that just a while longer. 

-oh..

-but you're right, it's ridiculous to keep you in a fabricated bliss . Especially considering the fact that training you would greatly increase your own chances of survival if we can't protect you. Just remember deep down that most of our arsenal is made up of weapons of war. Unlike bows they are solely designed to kill. Over the years I've seen so many Guardians fail to recognise the horror of killing. The horror of the simplicity of guns. Many among us come to worship these weapons . I felt like I would spare you that, obscure this facet of who we are, this facet I’m ashamed of.

Myaree was now the one looking hesitant to speak.

-...I see. I had not considered that AT ALL to be honest. I really thought it was because I'm barely an adult. 

-I mean it does play a part but you're not a kid anymore either. This journey will no doubt have its fair share of firefights and I for one really wish your trial by fire to be in as much time as possible.

-I understand. How exactly will you train me?

-the old fashioned way! Answered Akai, mimicking a punch on the young woman’s shoulder

-I'll handle hand to hand and bladed weapons, I'm guessing the girls will want to teach you the rest.

-damn right, I call medium to long range marksmanship, rifles and bows.  
Akai was gleaming, she was thrilled to have an excuse to show off her skills to her new friend.

-my combat techniques would be way too dangerous for you unfortunately, the titan way can only be taught to guardians, but i would be happy to teach you a thing or two in weapon maintenance and design!

-sure! I’d love to! Quick question, what's a titan?

-one of the three , let's say, school of thought among guardians. We represent the three schools, Akai’s a hunter, Ro’s a titan and I’m a warlock. Most fireteams are formed that way I've noticed, as their skills work better in conjunction. I can show you some books on this topic in my library if you want.

-captain, if i may, I'd like to volunteer to teach Myaree about non guardian battle tactics, it's important for her to have a standard tactical training which doesn't rely on light.

-Damn right Micah! Good idea! Well young girl it seems your next weeks are booked full already!

-considering the speed at which she tore through the technical manuals of the ship i don't doubt she will surpass all of you in less than a year!

Torres , who had been silent so far, was cracking up, proud of her student. Myaree had been on board for 5 days already, under her wing and Numiri's, learning all about the ship's engineering.   
What notions she lacked in astrophysics or fluid mechanics she would fill up with all nighters in Deidra's library. The captain often found her sleeping in one of the sofas there, her head resting on heavy books with long ass titles like " high energy particle physics : beyond the standard model"   
Deidra had started leaving fuzzy plaids in the library so she wouldn't get cold.

Torres was right, the young besenohan had adapted at phenomenal speed to the ship's systems, technologies she had never seen before. Technologies she, like the shield emitter or the bussard collector, had no idea even existed in the first place.

Deidra walked to the young woman and gently patted her head with a compassionate smile. Myaree was gleaming, eager to start.   
Her only fear was that she was biting more than she could chew .

*

-It's too bad the upper lounge isn't where the quarters were put, the view on the swimming pool and on the lounge window would be a great sight in the morning!

-you don't like seeing the garden?

-what?

-your room is directly next to the garden's first floor.

-No yeah I know that but i can't see the garden from inside the room!

-wait I think I see the problem. -The frame hit the communicator hangin on his belt, now speaking louder into it-   
Numiri, did Myaree ever activate her inner window ?

-"no, i thought it was by choice"

-so there are two windows? One facing space and another facing inward? 

-yeah , you have to either ask Num to do it or set up manual control like what we did for the CIC the other day.

-I must have skipped that part in the technical manuals! Thanks a lot Charles!

-my pleasure! It's probably not in the technical manuals though, the inner windows were added by Akai and Rosetta when they worked on repairing the ship. After transforming the hydroponics bay into the garden they thought it would be nice to see it from their rooms. They added the opacity filter afterwards for privacy. Unlike the outer ones they are real windows, not just a screen. 

*

It was about 8:30 in the morning when Myaree stumbled half asleep in the mess. Her hair were a fantastic mass of dark brown and red under which her face was barely distinguishable. This was the first time any of the crew was seeing her without her signature hairdo.  
Charles was cooking breakfast for Akai and Rosetta. 

-we are running out of fresh eggs. Only two left. 

-shame we didn't take a chicken with us! What do you want to do with them? A cake? 

-I mean I can synthesize the ingredient egg from the replicator for recipes but it's not the same, i like cracking them in the bowl, it's a very satisfying sound! Hey here comes our new recruit! What will it be on this fine new day! 

-uuuuuugh hi everyone, I dunno, I'm not familiar with Earth dishes yet, surprise me! Something different from yesterday? I wanna go Off menu! -  
She smiled at Charles and finger gunned him.

-there is no menu…

-yeah I.. nevermind !

Artemis appeared before the young besenohan woman in the middle of a yawn, briefly startling her.

-Hello Myaree! How's the body after yesterday's training session?

-i ache all over, there are muscles hurting me i didn't even know i had! 

-the more you train the less it will ache! Now eat, organics need a lot of this stuff to function!

She had heard the weird phrase but chose not to ask about what she meant and where that came from, too eager to start her breakfast.

-whats on the program today? 

-space exploration! - Answered Akai with a barely contained shit eating grin 

-unbelievable! No seriously is there a specific schedule or something?

-we are entering the research zone for one of the prototypes, the X01 Enterprise, technically the first launch of the Amrita project. 

-ah yes i remember learning about it in school, it was one of the skeleton crewed one, less than 100 people right? Target a weird star with a german name or something.

-that's Something you learn in school? 

-yeah in the first years, i was about 6 or 7 . We have extensive courses on the Amrita project, in a way it is at the center of our history.

-no yeah that makes sense! -Akai was looking at her enviously.   
All she had learned about the Amrita project she had had to fight and delve in the deepest data complexes in the ruins of Earth to get. Scraps after scraps. Knowing a population had these lessons as kids was warming her heart immensely.

-why aren't we jumping toward the intended target directly? Now that I'm acclimated to the jumps. -Myaree asked, her mouth full of cereals and blueberries from the garden. 

-we could, but we could miss important unexpected things if we skip huge parts of space, like we would have missed your distress call if we had skipped over your system.  
Travelling at warp is longer but we collect an enormous amount of data about this region of space. 

-I see, so as we speak we are mapping the nearby star systems? 

-Exactly. It also gives us time to train and basically spend time between us in the meantime. This way we don't overcharge ourselves with the workload. 

Myaree was silently nodding while her spoon was still rapidly moving from her mouth to her cereal bowl. She had a question burning her lips since the meeting she had called the day before but she wasn't sure how to bring it up. She ended up choosing the direct approach.

-Girls I've been meaning to ask, what do the colours of your uniforms mean? Don't get me wrong I like them but i thought the point of a uniform was to have all the same ones? Yours are very different, both in colours and shapes. 

-Ha!

-oh no don't get her started! Cried Rosetta.

Akai was playfully rolling her eyes at her Friend and her ghost.  
Artemis answered for both of them.

-well first of all the idea of a uniform didn't came from us, Akai made herself one with Oganok a few weeks after starting to work on the ship, her explanation was , and i quote, "can't work on a starship if you ain't cute" then, according to her ,a short dress is the best outfit for hand to hand combat in enclosed spaces. She calls it a “battle skirt”

-and i stand by it. 

-So while she made herself the fitted blue dress that you've seen several times now, I thought she was right about one thing: wearing a full armor inside an enclosed space, while working repairs and then living there, is a bad idea, especially considering the size of the armor on this one! 

-hey!

-So I made the same dress for her, but she doesn't like it , says this specific shade of blue doesn't match her skin tone very well. So we designed our own , more to the tastes of my guardian.

-only so she can show off her arms!

-what is this? Roast the titan o clock? 

Rosetta wasn't really offended, on the contrary she was rather enjoying this verbal jousting.

-anyways I added the sweater because it gets chilly sometimes. And the colours are an homage to one of my favourite pre-collapse tv shows! It's very old,very cheesy but i love it!

-is it star trek? 

-YES!!! OH BY THE TRAVELLER YOU KNOW ABOUT IT?????

the young woman exploded into laughter, a clear, genuine one.

-Hahaha... yeah I do, my grandfather used to watch it with me when i was little. I think it was instrumental in developing my thirst for space exploration.

-Bolje moi , now there's two of them.

Akai gently facepalmed herself, feigning exasperation.

-so do the colours have the same meaning? 

-loosely yes, i picked the gold for tactical operations and because it goes well with my skin tone,and since Akai had picked blue... She's our pilot, but she's also a capable engineer so it kinda fits the science thing I think? And deidra had that red top for a while now, i think her husband made it for her.

-wait what? She's married??

-she has been, several times i think, decades ago, we never met any of them. I think one of them died of old age. She doesn't speak much of her past loves. 

-she once told me it was cruel in the long run to fall in love with mortals.   
Added Akai, a dark shadow in her voice.

-oh? Yeah that makes sense. That would explain why the last person I saw her date was a guardian. 

-hey she never told me about dating a guardian? Do we know them? 

-Cintra, another warlock, I think they broke up around the time of the taken war. As i remember she was never around, they fell apart because of estrangement.

-she was DATING Cintra?? Oooooh no wait yeah it completely makes sense now ! So many things just got an explanation.

-by the gods open your eyes sometimes Akai!

Myaree had observed the exchange from an external point of view, not knowing the guardian in question, and not wanting to interfere.

-so? What colour should I pick? Engineers wore gold right? 

-in the series they do but Akai already settled for this blue, so maybe you should too. If you want to, that is. This uniform thing is far from official. Or even necessary. As you've seen we mostly wear whatever . 

-but i can do one right? I have ideas about this blue! This in conjunction with my brand new sigil it's gonna be great!! What are the restrictions though? 

-none. Go wild, honestly you can go as far as you want. You haven't realized that yet but most of Deidra's outfits are completely outrageous anyway! 

-yeah i have to admit her armor is very dramatic looking, or the black suit with the cape, like the cape and thigh high boots do have an impact i concur!

-oh that's nothing. Wait till she breaks out the red and blue gown. She can't even walk with it ,she has to levitate around.

-hahaha! Wait ,You're joking right?

The answer she received from the dead seriousness on the face of the two guardians finally achieved what she had avoided so far: to break out into a full , uncontrollable laughter, so much so that she was gasping for air.

*

-mmmmh What about this one? It's in the goldilocks zone of its star.

-technically it's out of our research zone but we could take a look, it's not too far.

-are we gonna jump there?

-i don't see why we should, it's 3h away at warp, might as well work on the exploration procedure we saw yesterday.

-why am i the only one with homework! Grumbled Myaree

Oganok chose to answer her. 

-oh you're not, most of us get survival training, either in simulated simulations in the dojo or in real life situations, and while we are not at the same level yet there is always new stuff to learn to stay ahead of the curve.

-you two get hand to hand training too? I thought you were experienced fighters?

-the ghosts don't but everybody on the ship is indeed required for these sessions. Most guardians rely almost exclusively on their ability to be resurrected to win fights, they will attack until death and repeat until they win. Deidra thinks differently. In her life she has spent most of her time with humans, civilians. Her fighting techniques include retreat. According to the legends around her she has only died half a dozen times in 200 years. 

-wow i never thought about it like that! Do you guys know how many times you've died? 

-believe it or not it's a topic we ghosts discuss a lot between ourselves. Rosetta has been killed 438 times since I brought her back as a guardian. Artemis answered 

-438!! That's a lot!! Ro’ do you remember all of them?

-no, not even half. It's rarely quiet deaths, most of time it's vaporisation by an hive ogre or a cabal extractor landing directly on your face. I keep no memories of it because these are immediate deaths. I've once died from radiation poisoning though, five years ago , during the SIVA crisis. Let me tell you it wasn't pretty. Took me 3 days to die. Horrible pain. I don't recommend it! In the end I shot myself to expedite the process.

Myaree was baffled. While she had finally come to terms that her new friends were basically immortal, hearing that they had been through so many traumatic events and were now so lightly joking about it was something else. Death had an entirely other meaning for them,ass did danger. Myaree was slowly realising that without the fear of death life changed drastically.  
Akai was still laughing at the joke, as were the ghosts. This was probably a good example of that "guardian humor" Torres had warned her about.

-More seriously though, we get our asses whooped all the time, don't discourage yourself, Deidra had 200 years of training and she was already a formidable opponent when she was young. None of us managed to take her down even once yet.

-Rosetta came close once.

-before eating the ground so let's not spend too much time on this! 

"Michael to Rosetta, can you come by the armory?"

-On my way, gimme a minute! Gotta go lads, see you at the mission briefing!

She left in a hurry, Artemis floating before her, asking her about a certain " supraconductor thingy" 

They were left alone on the bridge , the distorted colours and shapes of stars speeding past them, projecting vibrant shades on their faces. A few silent seconds went by .

-Akai there is a question i would like to ask you.

-fire away.

-it's about the Awoken.

-oh. Okay.

Akai felt a bit uncomfortable, as a guardian she didn't know much about her people, what she knew she either had read in her friends library or gleaned from Petra Venj and other awoken warriors. She was far from being an expert.

-I'm reading about the reef wars and there is something I want confirmation on. Your queen Mara sov in the story is the same as today? Is she a guardian too? Immortal like you? 

-no she's not one of us. My kind does not age past a certain point, in theory. Also she is not my queen. I am not one of her subjects. She's a terrible person, a true dictator and an absolute little shit. Has been for millions of years.  
Also a pathological liar. She sacrificed her own brother to the darkness. 

-have you met her?

-yeah several times, she loathes guardians.

-and ghosts! Added Oganok, seemingly furious.

Akai nodded. Myaree could feel intense anger, hatred even toward the awoken queen , she felt like she had ventured on a touchy subject.

-"ATTENTION all crew, we have detected weird gravitational waves coming from a supposedly empty region of space 23 light years from our current position, we are about to jump there to see what it is about."

Numiri had surprised them , they weren't on the bridge, so the voice had come from the PA system all around them, not from Numiri's designated station next to them.

-you should go suit up Myaree, get your gear ready.

Akai was already altering the destination on the conn, displaying the new coordinates, with the correct calculations provided by Numiri . Myaree turned toward her Guardian Friend .

-will i get a weapon? 

-i don't see why you should need one ,this is a science thing, we will most likely just gather data. The suit is just a precaution.

Before she even finished her sentence her ghost had materialised her armor around her, leaving only her helmet off. 

*

The Karnaca reappeared in normal space a few million kilometers of the epicenter of the gravitational waves. Good precaution , as the thing laying its mass before them was an enormous black hole.

-shields up! Take us a bit further away, i don't want to take unnecessary risks.

Akai obliged , leaving an even bigger gap between them and the giant. 

Numiri was sitting at their post on the left of the captain's chair, as usual.  
They were typing on their screen at unbelievable speed,Their mechanical joints creaking weirdly , like very soft squeaking noise from the speed. 

-mmmh ! Ultra slow interstellar black hole! Never seen one before! They were theorized in the early 22nd century. Technically these things are not formed from massive stars collapsing on themselves, but from intense stress on the fabric of spacetime. Which is why they don't have an accretion disk per se.   
This is fascinating really!

-is it dangerous?

-i mean it is a black hole, so yes ,But we are at a safe distance , the singularity itself doesn't appear too massive, and the sense of rotation is… OH that's why we had these weird readings! 

-yes? Deidra was looking at the data, unsure what to make of it. This was astrophysics on a whole different level.

-the plume of radiation is not hawking radiation like normal black holes, it's tachyonic radiation! 

-aren't tachyons relativistic particles? 

-actually most of their mass resides in another dimension, that's why they can break causality from our point of view. 

They all turned toward Myaree, who was standing next to the wooden lion, in full space gear, her colourful helmet in her hands

-what? Did I say something wrong? I clearly remember this from school!

-you studied this in school? I thought you were in an engineering course?

-yeah but that was seen in high school physics i think, i don't remember well i was like 15. 

-excuse me your people learn quantum physics at FIFTEEN???

-yes of course, it's part of the standard science Curriculum for Besenohans.

The guardians were looking at each other, baffled. Without the dark ages and the constant wars , Besehno really had advanced on the fields of science with giant strides . Not only that but the fact that this was taught to their young meant the experimental field was probably even more advanced . Growing up with so much cumulative knowledge was a real gift.

-wow ok! Alright. Do you remember anything else on this topic?

-not really, but I'm sure it was included in the archive my people gave you. 

-it surely is, we haven't had time to read it all yet though, it's 800 years of cumulative knowledge, not really bedside reading. Just so you know in our understanding of science when we departed, tachyons were pretty much considered a theoretical thing still.

Before them the black hole briefly glowed white for a second, highlighting the different regions. A pulse was sent through space.

-there it is again, it discharges its overflow of energy in the form of gravitational waves, that's why we picked it up.   
The time dilation is considerable! It's amazing! Yet its mass is inconsistent!

Myaree had approached Numiri's console, trying to make sense of what she was reading.

-oh there is a secondary time distortion at the poles! The tachyonic field spins in the other direction as the singularity! 

-and that means what exactly? Wondered Akai

-time is slowed the more you approach the event horizon, but is sped up near the polar regions of the sphere.

-is that because of the original tear on spacetime? Do you know what could have caused it in the first place? 

-no idea, it might be a natural phenomenon for all i know!

-how about the rate o…

-Deidra there is a ship in the wake. 

-what? 

-my sensors show there is a ship caught in the gravitational well. 250 thousand kilometers from the event horizon, they must be trapped, I'm reading faint energy readings, possible life forms, it's hard to say with all the interference.

-if they are so close from the maw they probably have been here for centuries, probably even millions of years. 

-do you detect a distress signal or any kind of beacon?

-no, but it is possible their signal hasn't even been broadcasted outside of their zone yet. Maybe to them they have just been trapped.

-num can you calculate the time dilation factor? 

-not without getting closer I'm afraid. 

-how much closer?

-we would have to experience 8 % of the time dilation field to allow for precise measurement.

-is it safe? Are we at risk of getting trapped like them?

-no , we would probably skip a few days but nothing more, a week or two at worst. 

-understood. Akai, 10% thrust, let's go slow on this one.

Akai leaned slowly on her commands, outside , the black hole was barely visible to the naked eye. They had had to boost the contrast of the starry background to see clearly. It looked like it was approaching them slowly. Numiri was attentively watching their screen, they were the one to give the stop command.

-we are in position captain, from our position time is slowed by a factor of .13 .

-which means?

-an hour for us is about 11 hours for normal space. 

-understood Numiri, in max three hours we are out of here , i don't want to push it.

-we seem to collect these kinds of anomalies. First the wormhole, then this? Weird don't you think?

-who me? Wondered Myaree

-anyone really, the question was not aimed at anyone in particular.

Artemis was the first to answer.

-we actively seek this kind of stuff though. And we've been exploring, i mean really exploring for like a week , a week and a half. It's a bit soon to draw conclusions, no?

-Sorry to interrupt, I have clear readings on the ship. Design is unfamiliar, the computer has no match, but I see 8 , no 12 distinct life signs. they are far into the time distortion, I'm afraid they are effectively trapped.

-what about these symbols on the hull? Asked Blacksmith

-they are not familiar to me. 

-how could we rescue them? Asked Deidra

Numiri kept on typing, their face, while less readable than the rest, showed a sort of disappointment.

-I'm not sure we can captain. If i assume their position has been constant they are experiencing a timeframe drastically different from us. One hour for them could be up to… about 1100 years for us. And there is no way to say how long they have been here.

-"Torres to bridge, i believe we can date the anomaly via the rate of decay of the polar spin. let me try something here."

-go right ahead chief, tell us the results when you're done. In the meantime I want hypotheses on how we could render assistance. 

-are we even sure they are friendly?? Asked Michael

-this is something we will never ever be sure , all the encounters we will experience on this mission will always be a leap of faith. I am hereby choosing to assume that any first contact is friendly until proven otherwise. This is an exploration vessel, we might as well stay true to its creators will, don't you think? From this moment, we will never fire first, is that clear?

-understood captain.

-good! I'm off to the library to check something, I think I have seen one of these symbols before. Don't wait for me to start bouncing ideas back and forth, If I’m not back in , let’s say 20 minutes, come get me .

-we'll do our best. 

Deidra smiled at them before exiting the bridge.

-i know you will! She said , smiling as she was leaving the bridge

*

-Are you telling me this is an Eliksni vessel??

-i wasn't certain at first, but these three symbols here look very similar to these three ideograms in ancient Eliksni. I knew i had seen them before, but i didn't realise it was on Ro's forearm. 

-good thing we loaded all of my stuff into the computer.

Deidra was back on the bridge with the rest of the crew, she was holding an open book in her hand and comparing the pages content to the symbols Blacksmith was projecting into the air.

-yeah, we still don't know what it means but it's a safe bet to assume the ship was either built or is at least manned by Eliksni.

-mmh this complicates things, they are probably going to be hostile to humans… and I really don’t want to engage Eliksni anymore.

-I don't think so Ro' they have been here too long . I'm not even sure they know of humanity. 

-you think they have been here more than 800 years? 

-not even in the ballpark! I estimate roughly 12 000 years. More or less. 

-that's insane!!! It means they probably were stuck before their own collapse!! If we manage to contact them we would have the opportunity to converse with Eliksni at the height of their power!

-it's incredible! We know literally nothing of their civilisation before their Whirlwind! Think of all we could learn!

-captain i have a question, the eliksni are one of the species of the darkness right? One of the five who caused the collapse on Earth?

Myaree had raised her hand to ask the question, she looked embarrassed, it was rather cute. 

-yes, and no, as far as we know their story is very similar to ours, uplifted by the traveller , then destroyed by the forces of the darkness, the only difference is that instead of sticking around the big ball fled their system, leaving them to die.

-oh no! That's terrible!

-it really is. The eliksni we met in Sol were scavengers, obsessed by the idea of reclaiming the Traveller, the great machine they call it , for themselves, killing us if necessary. In truth their struggle is the same as ours. Our fireteam was one of the few who advocated the incorporation of eliksni in our society. They are not needlessly cruel, they are desperate. Their people are starving. We should help them instead of killing them. 

-is that the goal of this Owl sector you mention in your journals?

-not really, some people in Owl sector do support our thesis but too few unfortunately. There has been a shift in mentality after the red war . But it's still too slow. Our two species are still entrenched in old feuds. Six fronts, twilight gap, the second siva crisis… There are just as many dead on both sides. It's a colossal waste. And Zavalla still doesn't understand that we need them.

-so you hope you can convince these ancient eliksni to provide someone to open dialogue with? 

-yeah, something like that. The house of judgment technically was our "entry point " into their society, the starting point of any dialogue, I know you've read stuff about the reef wars so you know it didn't come out of conciliation but more out of fear of destruction.   
I'm hoping an act of good faith today might give us another chance. A fresh start.

-interesting! That's … I see you guys have thought about it a lot. The plight of the eliksni seems very personal to you all.

-you need to understand Myaree that the human populations on Earth are just as endangered as the eliksni populations.   
War has become the only known way of the world. The vex, the cabal, hive, taken... they are targeting them just as much as they are targeting us. The Eliksni were decimated by Oryx a few years back, then again with red war… with them at our side we would finally be strong enough to push back.   
Sol is large enough for us all, at least that's what we think.   
The vanguard, guardians in general only think about killing them, protecting our borders, retaliation, assault… it cannot stay that way. It will never end if we keep following them.

Myaree could feel the anger and sadness in her captain’s voice, it was moving her deeply to hear her talk about that.

-i have to admit I don't understand such animosity. The people in my world are not belligerent, and when I say that I mean it in the deepest way possible. There hasn't been a war on besehno, ever, the last murder was 400 years ago, crime almost doesn't exist and when it does it's crime of passion. War is just outside of what makes us. I don't understand how things could get this bad this quickly.

-15 billion dead in less than 50 years, that's how. Decades of starvation, exposure, I'm afraid violence is a part of us we can't shed that easily. Sure we can rise above, but some people are just plain awful, they will see suffering and try to profit from it. 

-I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to insult you, I know you did your best since you were brought back, I'm just, I'm just trying to understand how our societies, so similar at one point, diverged so much.

-Don't worry it's allr...

At this moment the voice of Torres thundered from the CIC upstairs, through the staircase opening a few meters behind them. 

-”I GOT IT! “

The sound of her metal feet hitting each wooden steps was strange, almost sounded like music. Once all the way down she rushed toward the lot of them, clumped around the captain’s chair, where Deidra was sitting.

-I got it captain, I have a way to get them out of the distortion!

-you do? That was quick!

-yeah if we jump using the 3D engine but we partially disengage the…

Deidra was not really listening anymore, Torres was explaining her idea with a plethora of gestures and diagrams drawn in light in the air before her. The captain , her, had her eyes staring out in space .

The captain was thinking about the stranded crew.  
How would she react, learning that she had stranded her crew, her family , for several thousand years. How would she fare knowing her decisions effectively killed everyone they ever knew and loved. These people, these Eliksni, they had left a world, a universe that was so different, would they even recognise it ?   
Would they be able to face this new reality? Would they know what to make of it?

If they were really from before their own collapse, how would they react to the news of the fall of their civilisation. Would they even believe her?

How was she to break this news to them? Directly? In a written message? In the first seconds of the encounter? Not say anything at all?

No, that was cowardly, it was cruel, they had a right to know the truth.

Torres was visibly done talking, her nervous hand twitch and slight head tilt indicated she was waiting for an answer.

-I have complete faith in you , If you say it can be done, it can be done. Is everyone else down with the plan?

-making a partial dimensional shift is not supposed to be possible.

-what are you saying Num? It’s too dangerous?

-no, I mean yes, it will be dangerous for any organics but other than that there are MANY safeguards in place in the engine programing to prevent that from happening.

-so It can’t be done?

Rosetta and Akai were looking at each other with visible disappointment. 

\- No no, I just can’t do it myself, I can’t rewrite my own code, and there are several lines in the engine startup that are directly part of my core programming and not an engine subroutine. Torres, Myaree, Akai, the three of you know your way around my system, you could technically override these securities, bypassing my control over it. You think you can do it?

-the kid and I can handle it Numiri, Akai i think maybe you should focus on coming up with an interface for ancient eliksni in your universal translator, so we can actually tell them our plan.

Akai glanced at her captain, awaiting her final decision on the matter, however she just shrugged. Clearly Deidra’s mind was elsewhere right now, she wasn’t much involved in the conversation.

-alright Oganok and I are going to the library to work up a translation Matrix, call us when you’re ready.

Feeling everything important had been said, she left her post at the con, quickly followed by her ghost, Oganok, closely flying near her neck. Nudging himself in the fur of her armor when she wasn’t looking.

-no weapons. If we have to board them I want everyone unarmed . we will do our best to make their first contact with us as peaceful as it gets.

-copy that captain! 

*

-I studied some of the technical manuals the awoken compiled of the eliksni ketches and...

-We have stuff on eliksni tech?

-oh yeah in the library there are like 4 books on the subject, although they do seem kinda dated. Anyway, from what I've read they operate mostly by dimensional shifts, like, their cloaking is just shifting light from this spatial dimension to the closest one. However, and this is where it gets interesting, neither their mass or Energy changes dimension. Only their projection. That’s why it’s a cloak and not a means of transportation like the 3D for us.

-are you saying it’s based on the same principle?

-it’s a stretch but if they have this kind of cloaking tech we might be able to modify it to extend our projected bubble. This way we could save their ship too!

-it’s a long shot at best, first we don’t even know for sure if these are Eliknsi, and then maybe they are at the dawn of their civilisation, maybe this tech hasn’t even been invented yet for them.

-i know it relies on a lot of “what if “but I know it could potentially work , we can make it work! 

-you’re going to have to do it on your own! I can’t move away from engineering, with so many security protocols disabled I'm gonna have to input the corrections manually, and I can only do it from there. Do you think you can do that alone?

-ah yes , of course , damn, no i hadn’t thought of that! What if we jump there and I can’t interface! No you’re right this is out of my league.

-maybe not, don’t sell yourself short, if someone can pull this off , i’m betting it’s you.

-wait what if i transmated on board their ship? Make the modifications there directly?

-you risk being stuck , or shot, even killed. To them you will be an alien appearing out of nowhere, tampering with their engines. I'm not sure that's such a good idea.

-"apart from that you will only have 3 minutes once upthere, this will never be enough to understand then interface . Way too short , even for me, and I can't risk getting trapped either."

Numiri had spoken through the comms as they were not in the room. They were right though , the situation was harder than previously thought, if only she could have a bit more time down there…

Time?

-Numiri how long does the jump sequence take in normal space?

"3.278 seconds."

-everytime?

-"now that i have corrected the phase variance on reentry yes."

-how long is that in their spacetime?

-44 years 3 months 2 days 21 hours 7 minutes and 12 seconds.

-mmh i see, okay, now bear with me for a second. If you transmat me aboard their vessel at the very end of the jump sequence, between the full rematerialisation and the extension of the subspace field, how long would I be on their ship? For us? 

-"0.002819 seconds, i still don't see how that ...oh OH 

-how much from their timeframe?

-"12 minutes! You're right this could work!!!"

Torres made a whistling sound from her metal mouth, she was extremely impressed. The young girl had turned their biggest obstacle into an advantage, using technology she had never heard of a few weeks earlier. Watching her work was truly something to behold. And as a fellow engineer Torres could appreciate the mastery of the craft like no one else. 

One dark spot remained in that bold plan of hers still.

-what about their shields? Won't they interfere with the carrier wave? How do you plan on transmating through them?

-mmmh yes . Hadn't thought of that yet…

-"no i think it won't be a problem,the shields harmonics in their own timeframe will be easy to pierce, they will appear to us as fluctuating, maybe even visible to the naked eye. You go right ahead, tell the captain of your plan. I'll support you through it if she asks to see the numbers.

☆

The ship was vibrating more than ever, actually, it had once shaken up that much, when they had attempted to jump back to Sol. An experience none of them really wished to relive.

-that's gonna make such a mess in my room!

Myaree was the only one not strapped to a chair, hands tightly gripped on the wood panel making the secondary tactical position behind the captain's chair. She had put on her helmet, and was bracing up for transmat, a wide toolbox in her backpack.

Before them the lights of the dimensional shifts opened up, with a weird green mixed into the familiar orange and purple.   
In the middle of the sequence, Myaree started to dematerialise, her shape became blurred in a halo of green light , and before she could make a single move , she was gone.

-Package sent!

Numiri was their usual cheerful self, despite the fact that almost half of their security protocols had been forcefully deactivated or bypassed to pull this particular stunt.

The rematerialisation process was louder than usual, as if normal space refused them, and was pushing against them.   
The effect of the enhanced subspace field, intended to bring the Eliksni craft into the same timeframe as the Karnaca, was already deploying around both spaceships, making ripples in visible space around them, just like water would do.

Curiously some areas of the ship appeared distorted through the windows of the bridge, as if a lense was between them. 

Viewed from inside the arm of the black hole, the filament of matter and space it formed looked like colossal strings of luminous dust , breaking at the edges into a pure white light.  
The ship was in fantastic shape, they were so used to seeing old banged up Eliksni junkpiles that seeing one , with an unknown design no less ,in such a good state of conservation was a new experience for the crew.

At such close range the whole ship was visible, it had two side beams glowing with energy from the top, linked by a central part. No windows were visible anywhere, which overall was pretty common for spaceships. 

It looked roughly similar to the Karnaca in terms of size, maybe a bit less spacious as most of the length was pushed by the two nacelles, probably engine parts.

-1.5 seconds, I'm bringing her back.

Without delay Myaree rematerialized on the bridge, her coil spanner in one hand and her diagnosis puck in the other.

-pfeew that was close!! I don't think they've seen me though? Nobody was in the engine room. The way their powerplant distributes power is fascinating! 

-how long were you there in the end?

-35 minutes, i crawled in a tiny maintenance tube between their engine coating and the pressurisation system to avoid one when i arrived! I had to wait almost 5 minutes cramped up that way before they left! Had plenty of time to make the modifications, you were right Akai their engineering hasn't changed much from what your Books said. They use projectile weapons though , I saw the munitions distribution system. Mass drivers, hypersonic rounds.

-would they represent a real threat if they choose to open fire?

Michael, ever the pessimist about every situation, was already thinking of possible countermeasures in case of an attack.

-honestly? No. 

Before anyone else could ask any more questions, the conjoined voice of Torres and Numiri announced that the link was secure and the jump was possible.

-captain they are hailing us! Rosetta shouted from her station in front of them.

-No time! Engage the drive!

The ship shook harder than before, making a loud creaking noise, like metal breaking apart, several lights and alarms started blaring on the bridge, a psychedelic spectacle was filling their eyes just outside the windows, colours ,shapes that had no right to exist, strings of reality colliding into each other and just as suddenly as it began, it was over, both ships were free floating in space, just outside of the area of influence.

It had been less than 20 seconds total since the first jump.

☆

-I guess now is time to meet our new friends! Myaree are you ready to properly meet your first alien?

-ooh you have no idea how long i have waited to hear that! I was so tempted to just say hi when i was down there!!

Deidra smiled at her young protegee , her radiant smile and excitement were contagious, and soon everyone on the bridge was just as excited and giddy at the idea of meeting these ancient Eliksni first hand.

A few minutes later , Numiri had brought the two ships a significant distance away from the maw, close enough that it was still visible outside the windows, yet far enough not to feel any time dilation or excessive gravitational pull. The alarms had been shut down, and the overall damage inconsequential, but the original designers of the Karnaca were firm believers of "better safe than sorry" so most of the sensors were oversensible. 

Sitting at the helm, under the pretense of piloting the ship,( something they could do from anywhere ) they were observing their friends getting ready to beam one of the aliens aboard. It had been decided with the other ship that a representative would be sent , to “negotiate and make contact” as the translation had put it. Numiri understood that the aliens were assuredly uneasy, a strange ship appearing out of nowhere and towing them across dimensions then back to normal space in a matter of seconds, surely rendering them all unconscious for a time , they had reasons to be afraid. Deidra had ordered them to keep the shields lowered, an act of good faith . A dangerous gamble for sure, she had considered all her options and decided this was the best course of action. Akai had disagreed, but eventually the final decision was the captain’s.

Despite their advanced age, Numiri was critically lacking combat experience, or any experiences at all for that matter. They had been kept from the world, confined to a partially destroyed ice cave for the better part of a millenia, only acquiring the means to communicate directly and move around people less than a year ago. Because of that , they knew that even if they had the best analytical skills of the entire crew, they could not function without them. Numiri was not offended by it, on the contrary, they had realised over the past year that their capacity for emotional bond was much greater than was stated in their base code.   
They had tried opening up to Akai about it several days earlier , unsure of how to bring it up, and fearful of coming on too strong to their first friend in 700 years. 

Once again though the conversation had gone in a totally unexpected direction, Akai suggesting that all this time alone had created a “longing” sentiment for the AI , a wish to see others again, a feeling not programmed into them, but created out of isolation and grief. 

Since Numiri had no direct access to their personality programming they had no way to confirm any of this. Had they subconsciously created new subroutines, entirely new personality engrams on their own? The path was worth exploring, and it was scary enough to make them want to share it with their new friends. Everything but being alone again.

Numiri smiled, they could feel their friends moving around the ship, in the corridors exiting their rooms, most of them had chosen to change into more impressive clothes , except Deidra who had kept her warlock robes. Her robes were already extra enough anyway, with the flowing space background slowly moving on the fabric as if it were a real window into some unknown nebula. 

This time Akai was not the only one wearing her uniform, Rosetta had picked it too,hers was a dark teal knee high dress with a comfortable yellow hoodie , her necklace, the one made from the metal of her fallen comrade’s armor and engraved with their names, was resting on her neck . For once she was wearing shoes with it, literally an exploit for the woman who so far had spent most of her time walking barefoot on the ship, to the great exasperation of Artemis who had said numerous times “ I swear one day she’s gonna lose them! She even forges that way! Can you believe? And who has to heal them ????”

The greatest surprise was Torres, for the first time she was wearing clothes, some sort of hybrid between a sash and a cape, in a way reminiscent of roman or greek fashion. Numiri had never seen that fabric before,almost transparent, flowing like liquid gold, yet folded in lines from the shoulder to the thigh, then around one leg and arm. it was probably a personal project the engineer was working on. The result was gorgeous.

There had been a lot of talk about where to receive the aliens, directly in the conference room? In the lounge? In the hangar? Torres’s modification of the transmat had rendered the two decontamination rooms completely useless, they could now safely transmat anyone on board regardless of where they had been . In the end the CIC had been chosen by vote, and now most of the crew was waiting in front of the gigantic moving star map , discussing mundane stuff until the familiar sound of the transmat effect was heard.

*

The eliksni facing them was immense, well over two meters tall the size of an Archon on Earth, if such titles even existed for them. A formidable individual, dressed in a sleek uniform , very well adjusted . They looked very different from the eliksni they had met before, way more… dignified. This alien was exuding a sort of magnetic power,some natural charisma.

When they spoke, their voice, not yet translated, was very sweet, warm . Rosetta was not expecting that.   
The translator aligned itself on the second sentence , still needing time to calibrate.

-I am subcommander Yvrykan , second in command of the science vessel MONKE . Despite your actions I am forced to ask what your intentions are . We are explorers , traveling the vast expanses seeking new civilisations in peace. Our vessel is not a ship of war, we seek no harm or ill will. However If you seek these things I need to inform you that we will defend ourselves. 

-it is an honour to have you on board Subcommander Yvrykan. I’m captain Deidra Iompróirsleá of the Spaceship Karnaca . We too are explorers, we discovered your vessel trapped in the wake of this black hole by accident and tried to rescue you in the name of peace and friendship! We wish you no harm. Our intentions are to get to know you and …

She hesitated for half a second, enough for the subcommander to notice it.

-...and help you acclimate to this new reality.

Subcommander Yvrykan bowed slightly and made a strange gesture with his two left arms. Bringing them both back to his chest with an open palm. A salute, Rosetta speculated.

-I am relieved to hear that! Your technology must be formidable to allow you to play with time and gravity this easily! In the name of the Eliksni people at large I also have the privilege to establish first contact protocol with your species which we've never encountered before!

The guardians and Myaree exchanged a rather concerned look. The captain had decided to tell them straight away but now that the time was upon her would she find it too hard ? Too violent to tell them their civilization was no more? Broken, a mere husk of what it once was.

It was still a difficult thing to break in. Luckily for Deidra ,Yvrykan prevented her from torturing herself with that question any longer.

-I must ask what exactly do you mean by new reality? According to our calculations we have been trapped 258 years. I'm sure once contacted our people will be happy to receive you and your crew for celebrations!

-yes, well, I'm afraid there's no easy way to say that but .. you've been trapped for at least 12 thousand years. Give or take a decade. I have other intel to share too but I understand if you want to take a moment or have your whole crew over to talk about it.

-12000 years…his four eyes looked through the room for a second before he snapped out of it and back into the conversation. The shock and surprise all but gone from his face, leaving only what looked like unbreakable resolve.

-Your candor and honesty is much appreciated captain .  
...You've met my kind before haven't you? I noticed you and your crew looked at me without fear or surprise despite your physical differences. I must inform my crew indeed, would you allow me to travel back to my ship to tell them?

-if you wish we have a conference room big enough for all of your crew and mine, if they want to be here for all we have to say. There is something else, in order to get your ship out of the singularity, we had to board it and alter some aspects of your engines, without your consent, and I wish to apologise for that unavoidable intrusion. 

-Considering the fact that we were completely stuck and you saved us, I see no reason to doubt your intentions on this unusual first encounter. I will go back and tell them of your intentions, and of this revelation. Then I will come back with my captain and the officers for the rest of the briefing if that is amenable. I will also require a list of the modifications you made, so we can fix them as soon as possible.

-yes if course, we will make the preparations to receive them immediately. Numiri, transmat subcommander Yvrykan back to his ship, send them Myaree's report too.

The giant eliksni disappeared in the familiar transmat effect of the karnaca, thousands of minuscule crackling electric arcs, in silence.

-that went rather well! 

Artemis' audible cheer brought a visible smile on everyone's face , except the two frames who had no mouths to smile.

It took almost twenty minutes for the eliksni ship to contact them again, requesting permission to board. 

Only 4 of them materialised in the great hall ,chosen destination given to their transporter operator, of the 6 bridge officers Yvrykan had been talking about.

They all had this look of extreme curiosity on their faces, detailing everything they were seeing with avid eyes, yet clearly refraining from asking the thousands of questions foaming in their minds out of respect of a unknown protocol 

They looked pretty diverse physically, all shapes and sizes of eliksni, yet Akai noticed that they were all rather big, bigger than any dregs or vandals she had met before. Maybe this was how every eliksni looked like before the whirlwind?  
Their uniforms were incredibly well fitting, with small decorations on the cuffs , made of a silvery blue metal. Probably indicating the ranks or function of each officer. 

The one at the front, a thin yet immense eliksni, was wearing hair in an intricate braid, cascading on their back fur and inlaid with what looked like brass or gold wiring , drawing wild patterns among the hair strands. Her uniform was noticeably more decorated than the other, but the difference was subtle, only changes in fabric texture and some delicate gold stitching on the hems.  
They stepped forward first and reproduced this strange salute subcommander Yvrykan had done.

-I’m Ebryvyks , First prime of this vessel,   
Thank you for rescuing my ship and crew, I will never forget it! Yvrykan told us about the time dilation , but also mentioned that there are other things we must discuss. I left him in charge of the ship and will debrief him when we are done.   
This is my bridge crew, lieutenant Civyks ,lieutenant commander Misskrys and legate Degosk.  
He told me the captain was the one with the fire hair, I now see what he meant!

-very pleased to meet you all, you are welcome to follow us to the conference room upstairs . We have a lot to discuss indeed. 

Once seated into huge comfortable chairs (which Rosetta had hastily put together with the matter synthesizer after seeing how big subcommander Yvrykan actually was) at the big oaken table in the conference room, the eliksni crew and their captain began by confirming the data Numiri had gathered on their time displacement.  
They were sadly forced to agree that they had indeed spent more than 12000 years trapped here. One of the officers , who looked very young, with very short hair and fur, made a strange noise the guardians thought was akin to sobbing. He was sad, and since eliksni didn't cry this was how they expressed it.

-it pains me to admit we now walk a universe we know nothing about ! Let's hear what we missed since obviously our people have a history together!

Deidra was really uncomfortable. The story she was about to unfold for them was one of pain, blood and tears. A story she had lived through, a story she had actively taken part in. she was personally responsible for so many eliksni deaths, she felt tremendous shame. Shame to present herself to them with this baggage. These scars.   
In the back of her mind she was seeing it all again, in flashes. Thundering sounds of firearms, burned faces, the metal of her spear meeting blood and ether… she wanted to cry, to say she was sorry, to tell them she wasn’t the same guardian, the same person anymore.  
But was it even true? Was she really wiser? What lesson had she learned after two centuries of war? 

The voice of Blacksmith interrupted her before she could drown deeper in this well of shame. 

“Don’t forget what you did to prevent it. What you tried to make it stop, you did learn from your past, enough to know the vanguard’s way was wrong. Don’t forget that. We left them because they would not see it, and now we have the opportunity to start again. This is a threshold, not a trial.”  
He had spoken directly in her mind, without even appearing . Both the aliens and her crew , at least those who were present around the massive conference table , were staring at her. Waiting for her to begin. Not 3 seconds had passed, yet she felt like her mind had been wondering for ages.  
She put a leash on the flow of contradictory emotions assailing her, just enough to clear her throat and start talking:

-I'm afraid it's not such a pleasant story… I'll be as direct as possible, there is no way to sugarcoat this. The great machine has enemies , powerful enemies, at least as old and as powerful as the great machine herself. We don't know much about them to be honest, we call them the darkness. From what we gathered it is bound on destroying everything the great machine does. And unfortunately, they have succeeded. Countless times. This happened to Riis, your homeworld, several thousand years ago, your civilization was broken by the darkness and the many species that worship it . Like the Hive.   
We know that because the same thing happened to us. About 900 years ago, the traveller came to our system and uplifted us, giving great gifts and starting an age of space exploration and colonisation. It ended shortly after when the darkness came to destroy us too.

-Your civilisation now lives mostly in our system , and i regretfully have to inform you that our two species are at war, not an open war, more like skirmishes and territorial disputes. My crew and I left our system for a specific mission, but even then we fought for an alliance with the eliksni people. Which is among other reasons why we helped you today. 

The eliksni were uneasy , clearly the speech had frightened them , and learning they had been saved by a race of people at war with their own had been quite a shock.

-the great machine left? It fled with our people when the darkness came?

-Im afraid it just fled and left you all to the darkness. We don't know how the great machine, whom we call the traveller , thinks , what her plans are or even what she wants. All we know is that she tried to do it with us as well. And the important thing here is that even broken and hopeless, the Eliksni survived, in hope of reclaiming her, that's why they followed the traveller to our system, and that's why some of the great houses are at war with our people.

-that's a lot to take in. 

The Eliksni captain had her eyes closed, clearly she had been shook to the core by these revelations. After several long seconds she opened them , all semblance of fear and distress gone from her face.

-I must ask your reasons to contact us, to try to rescue our ship . What do you want from us and how did you survive if this darkness attacked you too?

-I understand,and i will be honest with you: first we rescued you because that was the right thing to do. My crew and I follow , let's say a doctrine, of peaceful exploration , it is capital for us to consider anyone in need of assistance and then if possible to offer said assistance, regardless of who they are.   
Then, as i said , in our system we were part of a minority of people who considered the Eliksni as potential allies. In the past 200 years I have worked tirelessly to ease tensions between our people, a great house, the house of judgment is technically an ally , but not of us humans, of the awoken, the species Akai here represents. I also know of one leader, Mithraaks who founded a new house , the house of light , with the sole goal to help the Eliksni and humanity , my species, live in peace united by common goals, turned toward the future.  
Now the question of how we survived, well we mostly didn't . If the records are correct, 90 % of humanity perished when the darkness attacked. The only thing that saved us was the fact that the traveller, for once, didn't have time to flee. Or she chose to stay. We don't know. She has been silent ever since. A broken husk floating above our homeworld. This ship was built before the darkness arrived, which is why the technology is so advanced. It was built at the height of our power.

-so the great machine is not yours? It doesn't help you anymore? 

One of the younger lieutenant had asked the question. Visibly he wasn't supposed to because the captain launched him an incriminating look. 

-I don't know. I don't think it does. Last important thing is that we cannot go back home. Our understanding of the phenomenon is limited but it seems there is a bubble of modified subspace around our system preventing ships from coming in. Our best guess is that the darkness created it, but to be honest we have no proof of that. All our technology is powerless against it , we Can't even detect it. The only definite fact is that we can't cross it. 

-considering your ship is made of superior technology than our own i suppose we wouldn't be able to breach it either?

-I'm sorry i cannot answer that with certitude. What i can tell you is that if you manage to do so, you will find your people very… different. Thousands of years of misery and hardship have changed them. Just as it changed mine! We see today what you looked like , both in mind and in body , and it paints a sizable contrast with the Eliksni we know. 

-this is… hard to believe. Our empire is no more, the great machine, gone, broken, our people reduced to scavengers… gone the exploration society, gone the senate, we went right back to the old houses, before the uplifting… I mourn an event I know nothing about yet I feel you speak the truth.

-you are welcome to our database, i can transfer it all to your ship if you wish!

Torres, who had been silent the whole meeting out of respect, was finally having ideas on how to help them. This was the first step , the first thing to help them see what they had missed.

-if you hate us for what my species has done to yours i will understand, if you wish to leave i will oppose no resistance. But i want you to know that i really believe this could be a chance for a new start between our species!

-I need time to think, Civyks ,Degosk, see about this database and how we could transfer it to our computer, Misskrys, go back to the ship and try contacting every outpost we know, every comms buoys we have in the registry. We have to check.

Her crew did a short weird noise the translator didn't caught, and shortly after they left their chairs to beam back to their ship while the two other started talking to Torres and Numiri

Akai was frowning lightly , crumpling her ocre forehead tattoo. 

-your ship is named Monkey? 

The captain looked at her with surprise  
-what? No? 

-Isn’t that what you said? The KSK MONKEY?

Rosetta was about to step on Akai’s foot to shut her up before she embarrassed captain Ebryvyks further, but before she could move she Erupted into laughter 

The two guardians were rather confused, but before long the first prime wrote the word in eliksni glyph on one of the holographic screens, the word in eliksni indeed sounded like monkey but it wasn’t a translated word, just the original sound it made in their language. 

-Tssalavr Monke was a great explorer before the age of stars, my vessel bears her name as an homage, it means nothing in your language, this is just a coincidence!

Akai laughed in good heart , joined by the captain rather quickly. Rosetta was watching them with big eyes before eventually joining them.

The eliksni captain progressively switched back to a more serious face, yet everyone could see the atmosphere was less tense than before.

-what do you ask in return for your database? 

The two women exchanged a perplexed look, this hadn’t been discussed at all in the meeting or before their arrival , they were unsure how to respond.

-we’re … we’re not trading them, we’re giving it to you freely so you can get your bearings in this timeframe. 

-that’s not entirely true, we do kinda wish that our two ships will eventually keep in touch. You’re explorers , like us, and we would be thrilled to hear from your discoveries and experiences.

-so it’s more like a gift then?

-yeah sure , it would be cruel from us to withhold things you might need to survive and thrive in this world you’re rediscovering !

-is that the wish of your captain as well?

-i know her enough to know she’d like nothing more than to finally work peacefully with your people. And with your crew too.

-you understand that i cannot yet make a decision about the future of my ship and crew?

-we understand that you have a lot of history to process yes. Just please don’t judge either my species or yours too harshly when you see the horrors that went down in the past. Desperation and fear tend to bring the worst out of everyone it seems.

-what i’m afraid of is that with enough despair all the achievements of entire generations can be wiped out , gone forever.

-maybe not forever. Maybe you being here today is proof that these achievements are not lost. 

-maybe you’re right…

*

-i don't understand why they don't even want to try to go back to their homeworld.

-the guys on the MONKE?

Rosetta lifted her head up from the sparkling printed fabric her head was resting on. The poor inflatable contraption was barely supporting her weight and height, as much as she appeared to be almost entirely submerged.  
The water was reflecting the familiar patterns of light emanating from the immense screen/window above them , displaying space folding around the ship while at warp. Such a sight had become a very familiar thing but Myaree couldn’t help but be amazed at the slowly swirling filaments of the fabric of space bending before them. The reflection on the water was adding a relaxing element she found soothing. Especially after a good combat training session.   
This time was no exception, her muscles ached all over, and more particularly her left ribs as she had taken a bad hit from a wooden staff. Her training this afternoon had been supervised by Michael, while Rosetta was taking a “me day”, napping on the donut pool float adrift in the swimming pool. The temptation to join her had been a constant distraction in the young woman’s mind during training . now she was finally floating freely in the hot water. 

It had been three days since the rescue of the eliksni ship . three days spent at warp, moving toward the next planned destination, a star named Eltanin, center of the gamma draconis cluster, where the crew were to search for signs of one of the AMRITA ships. 

-yeah ! this would be my first stop! See if there’s anything left!

-i think i understand why they said they wouldn’t go that way. It’s a way to not look back on what they lost. In a way it’s not too different from what deidra akai and I did when we left …

-but you didn’t choose to either leave nor to not come back! They did, they specifically said that not only they would not keep in touch, that they wanted to be left alone for a while, and then that they would not plan on going home! I really don’t get it.

-their home is gone…

-but they don’t know how much? And neither do we!

-in a way it’s only there in their memories, i don’t blame them for wanting to preserve a happy memory of their home planet and civilisation, rather than seeing firsthand the husk of everything and everyone they once held dear.

-oh…

-didn’t think of that did you?

-mmh not really no, but i do kinda see your point.

-also they did give us a subspace transponder code to contact them , but only for emergencies!

-they did? When? I didn’t know that!

-their captain hailed us a few hours after they left the conference room, asked to speak to the captain only. Deidra took the call in her quarters but she somewhat summarized what was said. They’re gonna keep exploring the unknown, and she wanted to tell us that our path may cross again, in more favorable ways. 

-that’s .. positive ? I think? 

Rosetta shrugged lightly, letting her immense shoulders back into the warm water. When she spoke her voice was soft and slow, filled with sadness yet in a hopeful tone.

-I hope we’ll see them again, they seemed like good people, the kind you want as friends…

-i never imagined they would be so tall!

The giant guardian chuckled, producing small waves crashing on Myaree’s face.

.

\---Vocabulary---  
Destiny specific terms:

THE TRAVELER: sort of planet shaped deity (smaller than Pluto), hovering silently over the last city on Earth. It uplifted Humanity with technologies in the early/mid 21st century. Supposedly it is ageless, traveling among the stars uplifting species.

-THE LAST CITY : technically “the last safe city on earth” a gigantic city built under the Traveller in the mountains of chile , located near the modern town of Uspallata. It is not however the only settlement. Just the biggest, by far. Only a third of humanity lives here

-THE COLLAPSE: "the end of the world" a general collapse of all infrastructure and countries in the 2320’s due to an overwhelming alien invasion . Almost all intel on the actual events is lost.

-GUARDIAN : warriors resurrected from dead bodies by a ghost to wield the light (energy) as a weapon to defend Earth and humanity. They have no memories of their previous life, only their bodies.(the protagonists of the game)

-GHOST: little AI in the shape of a little star around a ball , no bigger than a grapefruit, they were created by the Traveller before it went into silence, they are tasked with finding "their" guardian and bringing them back to life.

-OWL SECTOR: civilian intelligence organisation from the city created to gather as much tactical and technological information to help further the safety of the people.

-THE RED WAR: main storyline of Destiny 2. Basically a full scale alien invasion of the last city. A LOT of dead, more than all previous conflicts combined since the founding of the city

-TITAN : subclass of Guardian, they usually are big and smart, tactical geniuses, their main asset is raw power and resilience. They wield specific powers that no other classes can use 

-HUNTER :subclass of Guardian , they usually are small, cunning and agile, their main asset is speed and marksmanship. They wield specific powers that no other classes can use (like double jump, they can take a second jump mid air to reach higher)

-WARLOCK: subclass of guardians: they usually are mysterious and focused on advanced research. Their main asset is versatility and understanding of the Light . They wield specific powers that no other classes can use

-ENGRAM: separate state of matter, where mass and shape disappears leaving only information and energy. One of the major discoveries of the golden age.

-Arc/Solar/Void : the three types of energy the Light turns into , the first one manifests itself as electricity, the second fire and the third as dimensional flux

-EXO: robotic body allegedly designed as a soldier , made to house a human mind.

-The vanguard : Elite guardians (three of them, one of each class) who coordinate the last city’s defenses, organize assaults on enemy strongholds and assassinations of their leaders, and mentor newly-risen Guardians. Some Guardians work directly for the Vanguard as scouts, investigating potential threats to the City from the field. At the beginning of the game there were three: Cayde-6 (now passed) Ikora and Zavala

-Frame: a frame is a robotic body , not made to look like a human (although it is of humanoid structure -2 arms two legs, a head in the middle of shoulders) most frames do not have a personality programmed into them, some do.

-AMRITA project: a series of colony ships launched from earth during the golden over a period of 300 years they bear the name of colours preceded by the name EXODUS.(see episode 1)

\----- alien species of the collapse: -----

-Eliksni (fallen) :one of the five Alien species who came to the Sol system during/after the collapse. they are not a unified specie, their people are separated in great houses, often warring with each others  
they have four arms and two legs, as well as four eyes. Their story is very similar to humanity.

-The Hive: The Hive are a race of insectoid aliens that worship and serve the Darkness.They also follow the teachings of the Deep, specifically a principle known as The Sword Logic.(the strong devours the weak…) they house a race of worms in their bodies , whom they revere as gods.

-the cabal: The Cabal are a warmongering race of giant bipedal humanoids with a heavy-set, rhinoceros-like appearance. Their ever expanding Empire spreads through organization, efficiency, and corruption.

\-------------SPACE VOCABULARY---------

Warp: simplistic word used to describe the effect of the space altering tech used to propulse the ship faster than the speed of light.

CIC: combat information center, on deck two of the ship, directly on top of the bridge, it has a conference room with a huge table , an observation window to the front of the ship and a physical display of the celestial position of the ship.

AU: astronomical unit, roughly 150 million kilometers (the average distance between the Earth and the Sun)

LY : light year, unit of distance corresponding to the distance reached at the constant speed of light in a vacuum in one year. ( close to 63 241 astronomical units)

\----NAMES: --

-SKAÐI project : (skaa-dhi) the name of the project which saw the construction of the Karnaca.


End file.
